Electric switch for portable electric lights.



B. TAUBER.

ELECTRlC SWITCH FOR PORTABLE ELECTREC LIGHTS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-13 1913.

Patented June 20, 1916.

" imme-5.

' M ME UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD TAUBE-R, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO INTERSTATE ELECTRIC NDVELTY 00., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC SWITCH FOR PORTABLE ELECTRIC LIGHTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented nine 20, 1916..

Application filed November 13, 1913. Serial No. 800,706.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD TAUBER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in-the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Switches for Portable Electric Lights, of which the following is a specification.

, The invention pertains more particularly .to improvements in the class of electric lamps designed to be held in thehand and sometimes used as flash lights and at other times for affording a permanent light for a short period, and the object of the invention is to provide a novel and eiiicient circuit closer for a lamp of the class referred to.

The circuit closer ot-my invention comprises an exterior casing to besecured to the shell. of the lamp, a contact spring concealed within. the chamber of said casing, anda slide mounted on the casing and guided thereby and having within the casing aprojection to engage the closing spring and flexing said spring to close the circuit when.

the slide is moved for that purpose. When the slide is moved to force the circuit closing spring into operative position, said slide may be released from the pressure of the hand since it has no tendency to automatically return to its inoperative position. The

slide is adapted to be readily moved along the top of the casing by the pressure of the thumb of a person holding the lamp, and hence said slide may be moved. to complete the circuit or to break the circuit as quickly as maybe desired, and likewise the slide,

when moved to a position to complete the circuit, may be left there so as to hold the circuit closed for any desired period.

The invention willbe fully understood from the detailed description; hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which: i Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portable electrid'light embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is avcrtical section through the same on messa e line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detachedi 'view of the inner side of the casing forthe spring contact and slide, said spring being shown in position within said casing; Fig." 4 is a correspondlng'view of the same,

with the contact spring omitted from the casing; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through sis" the flashlight on the dotted line sa s Fig.

the contactspring illustrated in Fi 7; Fig.

10 is a detachedperspective view 0 the contact spring shown inFig. 8, and Fig. 11 is a sectional view corresponding with Figs. 71 and and showing a still further modifica- 131011111 respect to the contact spring.

In the drawings, 15 designates the usual paper or fiber casing for the flash light, 16 the battery therein,17 the lens, 18 the electric lamp bulb, 19 the reflector, 20 the elec tric connection of the battery with the lamp and 21 the usual electrical. conductor con nection betweenthe metallic cap 22'and the lower terminal ofthe battery 16. Within the casing 15 aretwocustomary conductors or strips ofmetal 23,- 24, the lower endof the 1 conductor 24; being, inelectrical connection with the metalcap'22, as usual, and which cap is ordinarily screwed upon a metalsleeve 25 fastened around the lower end of the easing 15. is in electrical connection with the reflector 19. and said reflector and lens 17. are, as is customary, held in position by means of a threaded metal sleeve-26 screwed upon a metal sleeve 27 fastened aroundthe up r end of the casing. l5. The parts herein fore identified byreference numerals are of customary known character and construction, and my invention has to, dowith the means I have provided for closing the circuit between the conductors 23, 24. I

The upper end of the conductor-23 Upon the outer sideof th'ecasing 15 I secure by ri vets 2872? or otherwise a sheet metal casing or escutcheon-30 which has a raised central longitudinal box portion 31 forming therein a chamber 32 within which derstood by reference to Fig, 3. The rivet i 29 places the casing or escutcheon 30 in electrical connection i h the conductor 24, said.

rivet passing through said casing and con;

. Fig, 2, the upper end of the closing spring 33 is free of the vhead of the rivet 34, and hence the circuit is not complete and the lamp under such condition will remain dark.

Upon the outer face of the box-portion 31 of the casing 30 is mounted a slide to be moved by the pressure of the thumb or finger toward and from the upper end of said box-portion 31, according to whether it is desired that the spring 33 shall complete or close the circuit or move to a position breaking the circuit through the lamp. The slide 35 has near its upper end lugs 36 which project through'slots 37 in the top of the box-portion 31, and during the movement of the slide 35 said lugs cooperating with the edges of said slots serve to aid in guiding the slide. The lugs 36 are, however, intended more particularly to 006perate "tvitlrthe closing spring 33 in the manner hereifafter described. The slide 35 has I near its lower end lips 38 which, after being projected through the lower ends of the slots 37,' i-n the box-portion 31 of the was ing 30, are bont laterally toward each other and upon edges of the washer plate 39.

which is cut out at its side edges to receive said lips and which extends laterally be yond the slots 37 and serves, in connection with the lips 38, to bind the slide 35 in position and prevent said slide, when operated,

from having unduelooseness of movement or from tilting outwardly from the surface of the box-portion 31 of the casing 30'. The

lips 38 and washer plate 39 serve as securing and guiding means for the'slide 35.

The circuit closing spring33 may be of varied formation within the scope of my inventiotn, and in Figs. 2 and 3 I illustrate the preferred construction and arrangement of said "spring. The spring 33 is a plain strip of metal setloosely within thechamber 82 of the casing 30, and said spring has a bend or pocket 40 formed in it in the plane of the lugs 36 on the slide 35 when said slide'is in its initial or inoperated position, as shown in Fig. 2. Above the bend or pocket 40 the upper end of the spring 33 stands outwardly close to and may touch, without detriment, the upper inner longitudinal wall of the box-like portion31 of the casing 30, and below the pocket or bond 40 the spring is bent toward and lies agalnst rior wall of the box 31.

the exterior surface of the casing 15, as at 41, and below this portion 41' of the spring which is a bearing portion engaging the easing 15, the spring is bent or deflected outwardly to the lower outer corner of the chamber 32. said lower end, which I number 42, of

the spring serving as means for keeping the bearing portion 41 against the casing 15. When it is desired to complete the circuit through the lamp, the slide 35 will be moved outwardly in a direction toward the lens end of the flash-light, and during its movement the lugs 36 carried thereby and initially in the pocket 40 of the spring 33, will ride upwardly on the upper portion of the spring and outwardly from thepocket 40, and thereby operate as wedges to force the upper end of the spring against the adjacent head of the rivet 34 and therebycomplete "or close the circuit through the lamp. The

slide 35 may be left in its operative position so long as it may be desired that the lamp shall be lighted, and thereafter the user of the flash-light will move the slide 35 back to its initial position shown in Fig. 2 and thereby carry the lugs 36 in the plane of the pocket 40 and permitthe spring 33 of its own resiliency to moveoutwardly at its u per end from electrical connection with t e rivet '34, the circuit being thereby broken.

.When the slide 35 is moved to its operative position and the lugs 36 thereon bend the upper end of the spring 33 to engage the f rivet 34, said spring has two bearing points, one being at 41 against the outer wall of the casing 15, and the other being at the extremity of the lower end 42 of the spring, said extremity being confined by the outer intethat the spring 33 is simply a plain strip of .metal suitably bent to form the pocket and bearing points and not requiring to be riveted or otherwise fastened to the box 31 or slide I form a slight depression 43 at the upper end of the spring- 33 as ameans It will be noticed of assuring a ready contact of the upper end of the spring with the head of the rivet 34. It is to be noticed also that while the r slide 35 has movement imparted to it the spring 33 remains substantially stationary except for the flexing it receives from the lugs 36 and for the resiliency it exerts in re turning to its normal position when said' lugs are moved back to the plane. of the pocket 40, said pocket being merely a curvature formed in a strip of metal constituting InFig. 9 the spring is formed with two 1" depressions or pockets 4411c receive the lugs 36, and instead of having the long bearing 41 shown in Fig. 2, is formed with two bearing points 45, 46, these two bearing points being merely a subdivision of the one elongated'bearing 41 shown in Fig.2. Thedepressions 44 take the place of .the transversely elongated-pocket 40 of the 'spring' 33 shown'in' Figs. 2 and 3. I illustrate in Fig. 7 the spring shown in Fig. 9, and which for convenience I will number 47, in position in the box 31, there being no change inthe box whether the spring 33 or the spring &7 is used therein.

In Fig. 10-1 illustrate a further modified .form of spring in that the spring, which for convenience 1 number 48, is formed below the pocket 49 for the lugs 36 with a spring tongue 50 cut therein and bent inwardly to en age the outer wall-of the casing 15 as I ilustrate in Fig. 8. The presence of the spring-tongue 50 adds flexibility to the closing spring.

In Fig. 11 I illustrate a further form of spring 51 in the 'box 31, this spring having a pocket for the lugs 36 and a turned over upper end for engagement with the rivet 34,

and the lower end of this spring being'attached to the casing 30 by a lump of solder 52. I prefer the constructions of [closing spring which do not require any additional means for securing them in place and .not

requiring any meansfor permanently at-- taching them to the casing 30..

In all of the forms of the invention illustrated the spring cremains substantially stationary, except for its flexing during the movements ofv the'slide 35, and the lugs 36 on said slide operate in all the forms of the invention illustrated as wedges to force one end of the closing spring 33 into circuit closing position.

What I claim as my invention and desire to-secure by Letters Patent, is:

F0 an electric flash light of the class describe having a main shell and circuit terminals, circuit closing mechanism comrisin an exterior chambered casin seb cured on said shell and in permanent electrical connection with one of said terminals, a leaf-spring confined within and extending lengthwise of the chamber of saidcasing and having one end over and normally spaced from an end of the other of said terminals which extends into said chamber,

and a manually operative slide mounted on engagement with said casing and substantially fitting the chamber thereof.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of November, A. D. 1913.

. BERNARD TAUBER.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR MARION, CHAS. O. GILL. 

